The present invention relates to a machine and method of dispensing food items with edible inner part and outer baked dough part, in particular to a hot dog dispensing machine and to a method of dispensing hot dogs.
Hot dog vending machines are known in the art. One of such hot dog vending machines is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,390,277. In this reference a sausage and a roll are packed together. Heating of the sausage is performed by passing electric currents through it with electrodes which pierce through a pack of the sausage and roll. U.S. Pat. No. 2,794,384 discloses a machine in which the sausage and the roll are packed in a box, and the ends of the sausage project outwardly of the box. The heating of the sausage is performed by electric current passing through the sausage. Then, the ends of the sausage which touch the electrodes are cut off. In the machine disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,117,511 the sausage and the roll are packed together so that the sausage is arranged in a box above the roll of V-shaped so as to be supported on special cardboard spaces. The heating of the sausage is performed by passing of electric current through the sausage with the electrodes which pierce through the pack, and the roll is heated by a special heater introduced into a slot of the roll. In all these references the sausage and the roll are packaged and/or dispensed together. Since the sausage is packaged together with the rolls their storage has to be performed at a low temperature so that they are actually frozen to prevent spoilage of the sausage.
In all of the prior art the taste and flavor of the hot dogs was not attained because the components became stale before they were heated and the sausages were not properly grilled.